10 Day Egypt Tour – Cairo, White Desert, Nile Cruise & Abu Simbel

🤝 Arrival at Cairo Airport – met by your private Egyptologist with a welcome sign and drinks. Transfer to your hotel in a private air-conditioned vehicle. Your guide walks you through the full 10 day Egypt tour itinerary.

🍽️ Lunch at a local restaurant.

🕌 Khan el-Khalili Bazaar: Cairo’s legendary oriental market dating back to the 14th century – originally established as a stop for trade caravans. A labyrinth of narrow alleys filled with traditional crafts, spices, metalwork and rare perfumes. The sounds of artisans at work blend with the calls of vendors and the scent of freshly ground coffee.

🏛️ El Moez Street: One of the most beautiful medieval streets in the Islamic world – a living museum of Islamic architecture spanning ten centuries, from Fatimid to Mamluk to Ottoman.

🍳 Breakfast at the hotel.

🔺 Pyramids of Giza: The three great pyramids of Cheops, Chephren & Mykerinos – the only surviving Wonder of the Ancient World. The Great Pyramid of Khufu stands 137.2 metres tall and contains an estimated 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing between 2.5 and 15 tons.

🦁 Great Sphinx & Valley Temple of Khafre: The legendary guardian with a lion’s body and the face of Pharaoh Chephren – standing watch on the Giza Plateau since around 2500 BC.

🍽️ Lunch at a local restaurant.

🏛️ Step Pyramid of Saqqara: Built by Pharaoh Djoser around 2650 BC – the world’s first stone pyramid and the beginning of monumental Egyptian architecture. Surrounded by a 10-metre limestone wall enclosing temples, chapels and tombs spread over nearly 16 hectares.

⏰ 06:00 AM – Pick-up. Private 4×4 Jeep departure towards Bahariya Oasis (approx. 4 hours from Cairo).

🌋 Black Desert: A dramatic volcanic landscape of dark basalt mountains shaped by ancient lava flows. Visit Al-Marsous Mountain with 150-million-year-old lava stones and climb the panoramic summit for views over the black plateau.

💎 Crystal Mountain (Gebel al-Izzaz): Known as the Pearl of the Desert – a hill made entirely of quartzite crystals that sparkle in the sun. Discovered by accident just decades ago.

🏺 Valley of the Golden Mummies: One of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century – hundreds of gilded Greco-Roman mummies discovered in 1996.

🏛️ Temple of Alexander the Great in Bahariya Oasis.

🌅 06:00 AM – Wake up to a desert sunrise. Breakfast in the White Desert.

🏳️ White Desert National Park: A 300 km² national park between the oases of Bahariya and Farafra – one of the most extraordinary natural landscapes in Africa. Millions of years ago this area was a seabed. Wind and sand sculpted its chalk and limestone into surreal formations resembling mushrooms, icebergs and animals. At night under the full moon, the desert appears Arctic-white.

🏔️ Engländer Berg (English Mountain): Panoramic viewpoint over the entire Bahariya Oasis – sweeping views in every direction.

🚗 Return drive to Cairo.

🍳 Breakfast at the hotel.

🏰 Citadel of Saladin: The medieval fortified complex built in the 12th century to defend Cairo – a vast mix of military, residential and religious architecture with panoramic views over the city.

🕌 Alabaster Mosque of Mohammed Ali: Built between 1830 and 1848, this stunning Ottoman-style mosque with twin minarets and alabaster-covered walls is one of Cairo’s most photographed landmarks.

⛪ Coptic Quarter & Hanging Church: Built above the gatehouse of a Roman fortress – one of the oldest churches in Egypt, part of the Coptic quarter where Christianity took root in Africa.

✈️ Transfer to Cairo Airport. Domestic flight to Luxor.

🍳 Breakfast on board.

🌙 Luxor Temple: Built by Amenhotep III around 1400 BC and expanded by Ramses II – dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship. Many Egyptologists believe Egyptian pharaohs were crowned here. Its avenue of sphinxes links it to Karnak, 3 km to the north.

👑 Valley of the Kings: Located on Luxor’s West Bank, this royal necropolis contains 63 known tombs of New Kingdom pharaohs (16th–11th century BC) – including the tomb of Tutankhamun. Mobile photography without flash now allowed free of charge.

🏯 Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut: One of the most architecturally unique monuments in Egypt – rising in terraces from the desert floor and blending into the limestone cliffs behind it. Built for one of Egypt’s only female pharaohs.

🍳 Breakfast on board. Sail to Kom Ombo.

🐊 Kom Ombo Temple: The unique double temple dedicated to both Sobek (the crocodile god of fertility) and Horus the Elder (the falcon god) – built primarily during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Its perfect symmetry – two of everything – is unlike any other temple in Egypt.

🦅 Edfu Temple (Temple of Horus): The best-preserved ancient temple in Egypt, built between 237 BC (Ptolemy III) and 57 BC (Ptolemy XII). Its towering entrance pylons stand 36 metres tall. Famous for its extraordinarily detailed reliefs depicting religious rituals and mythology.

🍳 Breakfast on board.

🏛️ Philae Temple: The island temple dedicated to Isis, goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility. Rescued from rising Nile waters and relocated stone by stone to Agilkia Island in a UNESCO operation. Surrounded by water, it creates one of the most photogenic scenes in Egypt.

🏗️ Aswan High Dam: One of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century – built under President Nasser in the 1950s to control Nile flooding and generate hydroelectric power. It created Lake Nasser, one of the world’s largest artificial lakes at 550 km long.

🪨 Unfinished Obelisk: Still lying in the granite quarry where it was abandoned 3,500 years ago when a crack appeared. It would have been the largest obelisk ever built – 42 metres tall and weighing 1,168 tons. A fascinating insight into ancient Egyptian stoneworking methods.

⏰ 03:00 AM – Early morning departure by private air-conditioned vehicle to Abu Simbel (approx. 3 hours each way).

🏛️ Temple of Ramses II: Carved into the cliff face around 1264 BC – four colossal seated statues of Ramses II stand 20 metres tall at the entrance. Twice a year (February 22 and October 22) sunlight penetrates 60 metres into the temple to illuminate the inner sanctuary – a feat of ancient astronomical engineering.

🏛️ Temple of Queen Nefertari: The smaller but equally magnificent temple dedicated to Ramses II’s beloved queen – one of only two temples in Egypt built by a pharaoh to honour his wife.

✈️ Return to Aswan Airport. Domestic flight to Cairo.

🍳 Breakfast at the hotel.

🏛️ Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM): One of the largest museums in the world – the perfect final chapter of your 10 day Egypt tour. Over 100,000 artefacts spanning 7,000 years of civilization, including the complete Tutankhamun collection of more than 5,000 objects discovered in 1922 after 3,500 years. The grand staircase alone – lined with royal statues – is one of the most breathtaking museum spaces ever built.

🍽️ Lunch at a local restaurant – included.